Retrospection
Godless Harvard
At the time, attendance at Harvard’s religious services was harshly enforced. Monitors sat in the back of the church, checking for absentees. According to the second chapter of the Laws of Harvard College, those who were late to Prayers were subjected to a “one Penny” fine and those who missed Prayers were fined “two Pence.”
The Harvard Men's League for Women's Suffrage
Olmsted and his peers were following the lead of Radcliffe women down the street. Maud Wood Park, a Radcliffe alum, had founded the College Equal Suffrage League—a club that became a nationwide organization—at the women’s college a decade earlier.
Harvard's Habeas Corpus: Grave Robbing at Harvard Medical School
These bodies had been hidden, not by some sinister killer, but by the University’s very own employees, students, and faculty.
Harvard and Homeland: Pedro Albizu Campos
At the time, Campos’s “insurrectionary activity” piqued the interest of Crimson reporters because he had just been arrested for his alleged involvement in an assassination attempt on President Truman.
Mavens Kosher Court
Maven—the Hebrew word for expert—easily describes Alan M. Dershowitz in the courtrooms where he has defended Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson, and Julian Assange. However, while his unwavering standards for quality pastrami on rye may be as staunch as his support for First Amendment rights, opening a deli was a case he had yet to encounter.
Eyes to the Sky: Annie Jump Cannon and the Harvard Observatory
While Cannon’s system of classification was respected by and essential to the astronomical community, it was dubbed the “Harvard System,” erasing Cannon’s name from its history.
Take Back the Night
Peggy S. Mason ’82 says she saw Harvard’s need for the march, which could serve as a space for women and targets of sexual assault to find empowerment and support.
Blue Lights
Even though the seven years leading up to the first Take Back the Night march included the University’s establishment of the blue light phone system, the creation of the double-locked door policy, and other precautionary measures, the fear of rape and sexual assault persisted.
Annie Jump Cannon
Cannon did a significant amount compiling for the Henry Draper Catalogue, an index with classifications of over 300,000 stars named in honor of the man who pioneered star spectra photography.
Annie Jump Cannon
Annie Jump Cannon was among a small contingent of women who were employed as “computers,” analyzing countless photographic plates that had been collected from various astronomical outposts.
Take Back the Night
In the evening of Saturday, November 8, 1980, about 70 women gathered carrying signs, chanting, “Women unite, take back the night.” They were readying themselves to participate in Harvard’s first annual Take Back the Night march, a rally that would become an annual tradition on campus.
An 1861 photograph shows the surgeons and military leaders of the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Paul J. Revere, Class of 1852, is fourth from the left.
An 1861 photograph shows the surgeons and military leaders of the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Paul J. Revere, Class of 1852, is fourth from the left.
"A Forgotten Name": The Harvard Regiment of the Civil War
The Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, was nicknamed the “Harvard Regiment” for its close ties to the College.
On Helen Keller: Seeing the Inner Light
Keller’s accolades range from being the first female recipient of Radcliffe’s Alumnae Achievement Award, to traveling extensively through Europe and Asia, to advocating for and educating people about the reality of living with disabilities.
